People are irrational, or are they?

Back again from a day of work.  Went back to work today after a four week absence due to a foot problem.  While at work, a thought came to me again and again.  It was this political business about how polarized we in the USA are these days.  That's how I segued into this thought about people being irrational.  After all, with all the evidence of Obama's failure, why does he poll as well as he does?  Are people close minded to the evidence?  Are they rational?

Well, nobody rational will stick their hand into a boiling pot of oil.  But is this really rational?  Maybe it is just fear of injury that causes the avoidance of injury.  It isn't necessarily rational, or is it?

Maybe there's some psychological tests that have been done which attempts to answer that question.  Just guessing offhand, I'd say people are capable of being rational, but aren't always rational nor irrational.

So, why pay attention to and debate politics when most people aren't going to be persuaded anyway?

The reason is that people really are reasonable enough to respond.  But it only happens on the margins.  That, by the way, is an important term.  At least it is in economics.  So, it must be generally true in life too.  The margins mean at the very edge.  In economics, if I remember this right, and in terms of income tax rates, is the  tax rate on the last dollar earned.  You might hear it as marginal tax rates.  The marginal tax rates is important in terms of incentive to do a little extra work.  The idea is that if rates are high, the response is to not work as hard because there is no point in earning that extra dollar if the government taxes it all away.

According to the economics I learned in school, people respond to incentives.  So, is this evidence of being rational, or irrational?  It would be irrational, in my opinion, to work as hard for the last dollar earned as the first, provided that the last is taxed much heavier than the first.  I'd like to think that most people would not do that, but would stop working hard after a certain point because there wouldn't be any point in it.  In other words, I'd like to believe that people can be rational.

So, if people are voting the wrong way, it isn't necessarily evidence that people are acting irrationally.  But it is also possible that people are acting rationally, but the people objecting may be the ones who are wrong.

This may bother a few people who look at Obama and wonder why his loss isn't a foregone conclusion.  Maybe it really means is that something the Republicans are doing wrong, but don't understand what it is and can't correct it.

Kinda late in the game to do anything about that if it is true.

There are other things to consider as well.  One is information.  People can't make good decisions if they are kept in the dark.  When it comes to the media, I don't think they are very helpful in informing people.  Too many people are too dependent upon the media for information.

Here's a thought--- what if Obama really isn't what he pretends to be?  His supporters will always believe that he is what he says he is.  His detractors will always say that he isn't.  But what happens at the margins?  What happens with that last bit of information or that last bit of effort?  It may make the difference in a close contest.

People shouldn't look to polls too much.  But it is exciting to watch a contest.  But if you are in the contest, it may be better to focus yourself on the task of winning it, as opposed to constantly watching the polls.  Losing the game may happen because you aren't focused on what you need to be doing.